Food For Life – Is Cheese Edible, part 2

Continuing with cheese: “On a number of fronts there are growing concerns about the health effects of cheese. These concerns center around the following areas: 1) Many cheeses have significant levels of fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. 2) Most cheeses are high in sodium. 3) Certain cheeses may contain a variety of toxic chemicals. 4) Cheeses can be contaminated with a number of microorganisms that can cause significant illness.

About two-thirds of the fat in cheese is saturated fat, which is known to elevate blood cholesterol levels. In addition, cheese contains about 20–30 mg. cholesterol per ounce.

The average level of sodium in cheese is about 250 mg. per ounce. . . . Parmesan and Roquefort contain up to 500 mg. sodium per ounce.

If cattle are fed aflatoxin-contaminated grain, their milk will also be contaminated with the aflatoxins. Hence their dairy products, including cheese, are known to contain potent cancer-causing aflatoxins.

Biogenic amines are another class of harmful chemicals in cheese. These include tyramine, histamine, putrescine, cadaverine, tryptamine, and phenylethylamine. Such compounds have the potential to affect the brain and circulatory system with such symptoms as migraine headaches, nausea, hypertension, and cardiac palpitation.

Dangerous microorganisms can also contaminate cheese. Such germs have accounted for literally thousands of food-borne epidemics. Some of the most-feared microorganisms that can contaminate cheese are those of the salmonella family. . . . Outbreaks of salmonella, including typhoid fever, have been linked to cheese consumption. The largest common-source outbreak of salmonellosis ever, in Canada, was linked to cheddar cheese consumption from March to July of 1984, when an estimated 10,000 people became ill.” Journal of Health and Healing, vol. 17, no. 3

It is understandable why God said that “cheese should never be introduced into the stomach;” “it is wholly unfit for food.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 368

Drs. Phillips and Snowdon, of Loma Linda University, found that men who were heavy users of meat, milk, eggs, and cheese experienced a nearly threefold greater risk of developing prostate cancer. Increasing cheese use, Dr. Phillips subsequently reported, was linked with colon cancer in men: those who used cheese three or more times per week had about twice the risk of colon cancer as those eating it less than once per week. In another study, French researchers, comparing 1,010 cases of breast cancer with 1,950 people with non-malignant diseases, found that women who daily consumed cheese had a 50% greater risk of breast cancer over those who never used it, while those who used cheese occasionally (less than once a day), experienced a 20% increase. They concluded, “We found a significant greater risk of breast cancer for the women who consumed cheese than for the non-consumers, and the risk increased with increasing frequency of cheese consumption.” The Journal of Health and Healing, vol. 17, no. 4

“Never can we comprehend the grievous character of the sin of indulging perverted appetite except as we comprehend the spiritual meaning of the long fast of the Son of God. . . .

“Satan is more successful when assailing the human heart. Through inducing men to yield to his temptations, he can get control of them. And through no class of temptations does he achieve greater success than those addressed to the appetite. If he can control the appetite, he can control the whole man.” Temperance, 275, 276

The End